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Long before sunrise, Sharon Dawn Middleton gets out of bed to pile on layers of clothing for her commute to O’Hare Airport from her Northwest Side home. Middleton, 74, catches a 5 a.m. bus, then the Blue Line L for her gig as a street …Read More

Banners once swayed at Soldier Field to commemorate the inaugural Special Olympics summer games held in that stadium in 1968 with more than 1,000 competitors. One poster featured an almost life-size photograph of an 11-year-old girl, Amelia Hernandez, sprinting to victory in the 50-yard dash, …Read More

A group of curious teenage art students jotted down notes at the Garfield Park studio of Karolina Gnatowski as the artist talked about her installation pieces and the musicians who inspired them. A few teens scribbled reminders to look up rock stars Jimmy Page of …Read More

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When Alejandra Renteria began attending rallies for immigration reform years ago alongside her mother, the significance of the movement didn’t register with her young mind. After her father was deported to Mexico four years ago, the crusade became more personal. “I started going to more …

As the skyrocketing number of migrant children fleeing Central America for the U.S. attracted substantial news coverage in the summer, American government officials offered a plausible explanation for the illegal migration. They attributed it to widespread rumors in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador of unaccompanied …

We know politicians will say just about anything to get elected. A hallow promise in a slick marketing campaign can be dismissed with a shrug or an eye roll. Sometimes unfulfilled promises come back to haunt, creating uncomfortable moments for those who made them. That …

A few years ago Dr. Mark Kuczewski of Loyola’s Stritch School of Medicine heard from a West Coast math professor with a dilemma on his hands. The professor, Herbert Medina, had mentored a star student at Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles who wanted to become …

As midterm elections near the finish line, there is a self-imposed, not-so-concrete deadline approaching for President Barack Obama. By Thanksgiving or Christmas, we should know what kind of relief he will extend to millions of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. How many will qualify under …

Shortly after Amy Godoy-Guerra married husband Carlos in 2007, the couple sought to remedy Carlos’ status as an undocumented immigrant. Carlos’ best chance to obtain legal U.S. residency required the end of his unlawful stay here, and the couple decided to ride out the wait …

There is beauty throughout Mexico. From the cactus plants in the north to the palm trees in the south and the Sierra Madre Mountains that stretch through the country, I have seen its beauty up close. I have walked along dirt roads thinking this is …

Outside the immigrant detention facility in Broadview, Minister Bobby Lawson of Matteson approaches distraught families who bring clothes and money to loved ones about to be deported. He meets them at their cars. “Habla Ingles?” he asks them. He speaks a little Spanish, he tells …

The question is routine, appearing on just about every job application. “Have you been convicted of any law violation (except a minor traffic violation)?” I pulled that one from a fast-food restaurant application, but anyone who has applied for a job, whether it’s entry level …

If not for its unbearable stench, Collateral Channel would go unnoticed in Little Village. Covered by trees and brush, the slip of water on the north side of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal is barely visible to traffic along 31st Street near Cook County …

Ashley Moy-Wooten spent her own money and on her own time raced to the Iowa caucuses in 2008 to rally support for Barack Obama, then running against Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination. “We believed he was different,” Moy-Wooten, 31, said this week. “We …

Michael Blizzard Hingson was born in Chicago during a snowstorm. That’s how his parents came up with his middle name. His parents gave him an ordinary life in Chicago and later in California. He played outside with cousins and was roughed up by an older …

Devonte Washington, in his second year at Kennedy-King College on the South Side, hauls a backpack in Army camouflage colors when he goes to school. It looks like an itty-bitty thing against his imposing 6-foot-2-inch, heavy frame, and it is useful for more than carrying …

Polo Briones got a reasonably priced alternative to campus housing when the senior at the University of Illinois at Chicago moved to La Casa, a college dormitory in Pilsen for students attending colleges all over the city. The internship he landed was a nice bonus. …

I’ll never forget the first time I realized my Spanish skills were eroding. I look back on it with humor and regret. My father was dying but had not stated his burial wishes. I needed to find out if he wanted a burial or cremation. …Read More

The massive compound that is the Cook County Jail bears down on the Little Village neighborhood of South Sacramento Avenue between 26th and 31st streets. A towering concrete slab walls off the inmates’ exercise yard from the neighborhood, though from the right angle residents can …Read More

Some will snicker and others will be unnerved after reading this column. Those with a truly open mind about recycling will appreciate the innovation. It’s about turning human waste into organic fertilizer, a process being undertaken across the country by municipalities that dispose of tons …Read More